Interviewed on the “Good Morning Nigeria” show on Friday, Oct. 2, Nigerian Minister for Information and Culture Lai Mohammed defended Nigeria’s standard-gauge railway (SGR) project as a means of development for its whole region. The plan will eventually give Nigeria’s northern neighbors — the currently landlocked nations of Niger, Chad, and Burkina Faso — easy access to ocean transport, both for import and export of goods. In principle, this is the primary intention of the Belt and Road Initiative, a World Land-Bridge.
Mohammed defended the rail network — a 2,700-km line from the port of Lagos in the southeast to Kano in the north, about 500 km of which is now operational — which is often attacked for its multi-billion price tag, saying that it would “strengthen the economy of Nigeria.” Last week the Federal Executive Council approved the extension of the line from the northern terminus at Kano to Marradi in Niger, a 100-km line which has a nearly two-billion-dollar price tag. An unofficial poll on the PunchNG media site showed a large majority of Nigerians opposing this.
